OSLO, Norway — Police suspect an explosion in a ship's engine room caused the fire that killed two crew, injured nine, and forced passengers to evacuate a popular cruise off Norway's craggy western coast Thursday as heavy smoke billowed from the boat.

"Our suspicion is that there has been an explosion in the machine room," Police Chief Yngve Skovly at Sunnmoere Police District said at a press conference.

Operator Hurtigruten ASA said nine other crew were taken to the hospital, two with serious burns and smoke injuries. All 207 passengers — and most of the crew of 55 — on board the MS Nordlys were taken to safety.Television footage showed thick, black smoke rising from the ship, currently docked in Aalesund. Police said they sealed off parts of the Alesund because of smoke from the fire.

Police spokeswoman Ann Camilla Bostad said "smoke divers onboard were working on putting out the fire."

Either there was a massive electrical failure, fuel leak or a disastrous malfunction in one of the engines, any one of which can lead to an explosion. I work aboard ships, and in the engine room of any modern vessel there's 480-volt power distribution circuitry, fuel oil, high pressure air, lube oil, hydraulic oil, generators, and one or more gas turbine or diesel engines. Whatever caused this, it must have involved the ignition of something that vaporized then ignited, and that is most likely fuel or hydraulic oil, which is used among other things to control the cluches, reduction gears, rudder(s) and propellers if the ship has variable pitch propellers. Oil has a way of accumulating in the bilge, which can be a serious hazard to a vessel and it's occupants. A leak could flood the bilge with thousands of gallons of fuel oil, which actually happened aboard one vessel I worked on. One spark and that ship would have burned to the waterline. It might have been the result of ill-advised welding or other "hot work," which aboard ship requires extreme caution to avoid starting a fire that could sink the vessel.

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